Transformers: Herald, Host--Book One of The Ghost Chronicles
by Falcon's Hyperdrive
Summary: Kate has a voice in her head and she's just been transported to the world of Transformers. She can't outrun her troubles, however, for some things hold true between the realities. Her kidnappers are one of them. Adding the Decepticons to the mix just makes things worse. It's enough to drive any girl insane, and she's sure she's already there. (rewrite of "I'm Crazy, Right?")
1. Chapter 01: Jack

This is the rewrite of _**Transformers: I'm Crazy, Right?**_ It is easily one of the most-loved of all my fanfics, and does hold a special place in my heart partly because of that but mostly because I had so much fun with it. But I started it while I was still in high school, and oh, boy, can I tell the difference. Reading it gives me headaches, and I can't believe how much better I write now. I'm not trying to brag by saying that, but I honestly believe I can do a whole lot better now than I did then. Hopefully this rewrite will reflect that. I was not originally intending to rewrite it, but my current writing style seems to demand it. Also, certain details will be introduced much sooner rather than as an improvised plot point to help the story along. Everything from this point on is intentional, and I hope that you will be able to tell.

Character illustrations for The Ghost Chronicles can be found on my deviantART account, FuzzySlipper. I hope to have actual cover art designed for this soon, but I'm not sure how soon. The sequel, _Transformers: Keres_ may be posted soon, no promises, and that will depend on how the rewriting of this and my fickle muse cooperate.

Not writing any disclaimers or reference keys. I trust you all to know well enough how to interpret text changes and proper character ownership and point of view changes. **The only thing I will say is that this story is set around a year after the 2007 movie**. The only other movie that will ever come into play in my series here is _The Revenge of the Fallen_, which will be included in the first few chapters of the third installment of what I plan to be a trilogy. Eventually. I have college to work on, a job for the summer to get, and a marriage to plan now for Spring of 2016. :-)

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**Transformers:**

_**Herald, Host**_

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**Book One of the**

**Ghost Chronicles**

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_By Falcon's Hyperdrive_

Original written Fall 2008 through Spring 2014

Rewrite begun Summer 2014

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**Prologue**

**1999**

"Mommy, Daddy, look! It's so big!"

The little girl started to lean over the edge to see just how big the drop was, but her older brother grabbed the back of her shirt and pulled her back, eyes wide and torn between startled fear and the exasperation of an elder sibling. "Kitty, don't do that," he scolded, tone just a pitch higher than normal. "You could fall!"

"Keagan…" she whined, jutting out her lower lip in the biggest pout she could manage. "I wasn't gonna lean too far."

"It doesn't matter, it's the Hoover Dam! Jeez, you're gonna give me a heart attack before you even turn nine, Sis."

"That's 'cause you're old, Kee," Kitty teased, abandoning her pout and grinning.

"I'm fourteen, and that's not old." Keagan shook his head and sighed. "Come on, Mom and Dad are getting tickets for the tour. They'll kill me if you wander off under my watch, okay? So don't."

"Okay, okay. Hey, Kee?"

"Yeah, Kitty?"

The girl slid her hand into her big brother's and held tight. "Susie's brother said he wished he didn't have a sister sometimes. Do you sometimes wish you didn't?"

Keagan blinked, stopped walking, and turned toward her. After staring at her for a few short seconds, he leaned over and kissed the top of her head. "Never in infinity, Kitty. Wouldn't trade you for the world."

Kitty's grin was broad, even despite the shock of static from the light she brushed in passing. Her happiness was not to be deterred, for she had the best big brother there ever was.

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**Chapter One: Jack**

** 2008**

The wind was low, a cool breeze that only just rustled the leaves in passing. Dry twigs and the fallen garments of the trees from the year before crunched underfoot, sometimes with dull snaps, others with a brittle crack.

The air was warm beneath the thickening spring canopy, the light a soft green glow as it filtered through young foliage and revealed the crisscrossing paths of deer and rabbits in the patchwork shadows. A flutter of wings, a pattering in the bushes, and Kate ducked as a bluejay swooped in overhead then jumped in surprise as a small rabbit darted past her feet from the opposite direction. She had been following the road from the shelter of the woods ever since she found it, too afraid of the wrong people discovering her should she openly walk on the sunbaked asphalt. A sidewalk for giants, she also mused, probably shouldn't have lilliputians getting burnt upon the path, despite the lack of travelers. Down here in the woods, wrinkling her nose at the steep bank that dropped off the shoulder of the road, she was much better protected from sun and men.

The wind picked up briefly, catching the ponytail her brown hair had been tied into, and she sputtered for a moment as strands got caught in her mouth. It was already dry, she didn't need those follicles in it on top of dehydration. Her tongue and the roof of her mouth already felt like she was eating cotton.

_You should find a stream,_ Vor—her Voice of Reason—told her. Vor had laughed a little at being given such a literal name, and in detecting the capital letters in her title, but she hadn't disputed either and neither could argue that while many people had some sort of voice of reason, Vor was certainly a Voice rather than a voice. And Kate wasn't sure, but she thought that Vor liked being given a name. It was a distinct pleased feeling that did not originate from herself, she knew; she had long since stopped questioning such emotions not strictly her own, and automatically assigned them to the Voice in her head.

_I'm trying,_ Kate thought back to the Voice. _Do you hear anything?_

_ Honey, I share your ears, and thus your hearing. If you can't, I can't._

That was another thing. Vor wasn't just her Voice of Reason, she was a Voice not quite her own. It was difficult to explain without sounding crazy—and Kate was already convinced she was insane on some level, but didn't much care; Vor was good company—but Vor was not her. She knew that, somehow. The sense and sound of words had just appeared in her mind one day, a comforting light in the midst of darkness, and while Kate could not remember what was said or what had happened, she knew that Vor was something else entirely. But while Vor was not Kate, she was a part of Kate, and the teen knew she would be lost or dead without the Presence. And while Vor could pay attention to things she could not or did not, it was true that in sharing her body she was just as limited.

Kate and Vor fell back into silence, though the former really would have rather had a distraction. And, demonstrating just how well Vor knew her, it wasn't long before the Voice was speaking again. _So where are we going?_ she asked, even though Kate was certain that the Voice knew everything she did. But the question made her steps falter, regardless, and she took a moment to think about that. She couldn't remember much Before, she had realized somewhere in the long night of walking, and she shifted the straps of her battered old backpack as she considered her dilemma.

"I don't know," she murmured, finally admitting defeat with a quiet rasp. "Just…onward, I guess."

_Well, you can't stay here,_ Vor agreed,_ and I would definitely argue against going back._

_ No need,_ Kate told her invisible companion, resuming her walk. She moved her feet carefully, every step placed with an eye out for anything which might trip her up, twist her ankles, or get her bitten by a snake. She hadn't had such care early on in her escape, but as speed gave way to the need for endurance she knew that plodding on ahead was all she could do. She had her distance, she was well hidden, now all that was left was for someone friendly to come driving along the road, or for her to stumble across a town and catch a ride from there before her kidnappers could locate her and take her back.

_You're spacing out,_ Vor said into her musings. _Listen._

To what? The birds were as noisy as ever, and the road was silent. But there—there! A trickle of water teased at the edge of her hearing, and as she neared the source her pace quickened. Was it a spring, a stream, a leaking pipe?

It was a stream, she identified, though more of a creek, and it wound through the trees in a way that it approached the road, but did not quite reach it, and veered off back into the deep woods as if frightened by the grassy hill. Its water was clear and cold, and Kate nearly burst into tears in her relief. She wouldn't have even cared if the water had been fogged up from dirt, she still would have drunk it.

_Slowly,_ Vor reminded her sternly as she fell to her knees in the sandy mud and cupped shaking hands beneath the surface of the gently coursing creek. It wasn't too deep, though deep enough to submerge her hands entirely, and she supposed it was best that she be careful not to pitch forward into it, either, lest she drown. It would be exactly like her to escape and drown not two days later, wouldn't it?

_Admittedly, yes,_ Vor agreed, humor in her tone. _I can see that happening to you quite easily. So don't pass out._

_ Yes, mother, _Kate snarked back, smiling, and brought her cupped hands to her lips. Slowly, Vor had told her, and she made sure to follow that instruction as she drank her fill, losing half the water down the front of her ragged and bloodied yellow shirt in the process. It melded with the soil, joining the mud beneath her knees, and more joined it as she brought another handful to her mouth. It was all she could do to not just lean over and drink directly from the creek, and her arms shook partly from that effort to restrain herself as she fought to take her time.

After a while, she finally felt satisfied. There was no way for her take water with her, as all her bag contained was a laptop and a random collection of items that she had grabbed before leaving home to visit…someone, she couldn't remember who, but for at least this moment she wasn't about to die. Maybe it was enough to get her to the next town? What was the rule—three minutes without air, three weeks without food, three days without water? But just a day was dangerous, she had discovered, so she hoped she found a solution soon.

Something glimmered in the water as she raised her head, catching her eye as she finally was able to divert her attention from drinking. _What's that?_ She blinked, but the shine remained, and it was not the ripples in the surface of the creek that was reflecting the light. It was beneath, just an arm's reach away.

_I don't know,_ Vor answered her distracted question. _But something seems familiar about it, somehow._

Kate paused even as she started to reach. _Familiar? How is that possible?_ After all, Vor was the Voice in her head. It should feel familiar to herself, as well, but it didn't.

Vor's tone was troubled. _I don't know._

There was nothing else she could do but see what it was, Kate decided, if she wanted to find out. Fingers nudged into the mud and pebbles beneath the water, digging out the submerged object that was sticking out as if dropped point-down into the creek.

"Shit!" she yelped, jerking her hand away and shaking it. It was as if she had just been shocked with a live wire—but that was impossible, or else the entire creek would have been electrified. Had she just touched a sharp edge and confused the sensations?

She felt nothing this time as she gripped the jagged object once more, and it gave way easily under her tug. It was about the size of her hand, its edges torn and melted. Kate then quickly discovered that it was metal, had good heft for its size, and odd symbols were carved deep into its surface. No, not symbols—glyphs. The word was stuck in her mind, but felt right as it echoed. She had seen something like this before, fandom sites for…_Transformers_?

Kate blinked, and the thought was gone. _But why did it shock me like that?_

In her head, Vor seemed to sharpen her focus. _That looks like a shard from that cube in the movie. The All Spark?_

"But…" Kate traced the glyphs, and swallowed hard. "…how is that possible?"

_…Movie prop?_ But Vor's tone was unsettled, and she didn't believe it either.

The girl opened her mouth to communicate her next thought, but it, too, was lost as she turned her head to the road, ears trained to listen for approaching tormentors instead picking up a car approaching from the distance. From the sound of the engine, it was a sports car, something high end—and quiet.

Spitting out a curse, Kate shoved the shard back over her head into her bag and scrambled for the hill. Quiet engines were hard to judge on distance sometimes, and there was no way she was going to miss the only ride for miles.

**. . . . . .**

It was a silver Pontiac Solstice, hardtop, and from what Kate had heard the only one of its kind. Was this the movie prop, then, or a custom job? Either way, expensive, and she was afraid to touch it despite the startling blue eyes blinking up at her from behind visor-like sunglasses. "Where'd you come from?" the man behind the wheel asked, voice full of confusion. He looked at her, the woods, and back to Kate. "How'd you get way out here?"

Kate tried not to squirm under the scrutiny. "It's a long story."

The man rubbed a dark hand through thick black hair and let out a breath. "Not your day, huh? Here." He leaned over and opened the passenger door. "I'll give you a ride, and you can tell me your long story."

She eyed the spotless interior dubiously. "You sure? Your car is not going to be easy to clean."

"Kid, I don't care. Get in, you look…yeah, not going there. Hey, er, should I drop you at a hospital or something?"

"Only if it's far away," she answered before she could think about her words, and winced. "Yeah, uh, you can just drop me off at a bus station, or something."

The man leaned back, but the door remained open so she stepped around to where she could climb inside, but hesitated before she could follow through. Those sharp blue eyes were watching her with almost frightening intensity, but as if realizing this he turned away. "What kind of trouble are you in?" he asked, bewilderment in his voice.

Kate shrugged off her backpack and climbed in, deciding to take the leap of faith that this guy wasn't helping her captors. He didn't have any tells which might indicate he knew who she was, and as far as she could determine he genuinely did not know what was going on. She was filthy, and drying mud fell from her jeans to the floor of the car, but the driver said nothing so neither did she. "Kidnapping kind," she answered honestly. "But I have no idea how far ahead of them I am, so I can't go anywhere close."

He stared at her for several long moments, and then finally gave her a short, sharp nod. "Far away, then. Where do you want to go?"

"Where were you going anyway?"

"Nevada. You want to come with?"

Relief washed over her, but Kate knew better than to immediately accept such an offer. It sounded too good to be true. _What do you think, Vor?_

_I think we should take it. It's a risk, but I doubt you're going to get an offer like this from anyone else. Ask him where we are._

"Uh, where are we anyway?"

The man screwed up his expression as he thought about. "Michigan, I think. Somewhere in the lower peninsula, I wasn't paying much attention."

_Well that settles it,_ Vor decided. _Nevada is far far away, and you would do well to go with him._

_Really? All the way across the country?_

A pause. _Yes,_ she answered then. _As if we have anywhere else to go?_

_Point._ Kate reached over and closed the door, then buckled up and settled the bag on top of her lap and wrapped her arms around it protectively. "Nevada sounds great."

The man's smile seemed tentative, but his hand was steady when he held it out to shake. "Name's Jack."

"Kate." She took his hand and shook it once, grip firm. "New York accent?"

Jack took his hand back and put the car in gear. "Born and raised. Moved after college, and it's kind of been hard to settle down in any one place after that. You?"

She should have expected this question, really. Looking away, she watched the trees fly by and let herself be comforted by the steady purr of the engine. "I don't know. I can't remember much of anything before a year ago. Even now things are blurry from just the last few months."

There was silence for a moment, and then Jack cleared his throat. "I have a friend who's a doctor, where we're going. He could take a look at you, if you don't want a hospital."

"Sure." Kate smiled at him and felt the relief again. Unofficial channels meant it would be harder for her to be located. "That would be great. Thank you, Jack."

He smiled back at her, then looked back at the road. "So, anything important I should know about for the next couple of days? Eclectic music tastes, snoring?"

Kate laughed, appreciating the humor after such a long time without it. "I'd hardly know if I snore, dude. But…I do talk to myself, fair warning."

"Oh, yeah? Why's that?"

Might as well, right? She crossed her fingers, wondering if she'd be tossed in the loony bin for saying this. "I have a Voice in my head that I named Vor, and I talk to her aloud sometimes."

He gave her a funny look for that, but didn't have much of a reaction otherwise, yet. "A voice?"

"Yeah. Like a separate person who's there in my head. She…keeps me company, and funnily enough, keeps me sane. She's always there for me, even when they…"

Jack didn't question her when she trailed off, and seemed nice enough to leave it alone. "Well, I like Classic Rock and Country, so if you remember any music preferences don't hesitate to let me know."

Kate let out a tired laugh and let her eyes close. The adrenaline was crashing, a sense of safety causing her to relax from her high alert state. Jack's attitude was very refreshing, she decided, and she figured she was going to like this guy very much, indeed.

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_**Uploaded 9/4/14**_


	2. Chapter 02: The Beginning of Lies

Thank you all for the enthusiastic reception to this. :-) And thank you especially to those who reviewed, I thrive on comments and they make me want to write even more. :-)

**VioletRibbons**\- Thank you so much! Honestly, I'm still working on making my writing better, and I still have a very long ways to go. Your suggestions are great, and I will be certain to try and better infuse those details into further chapters. If I ever need to add something more, and I know I will, feel free to let me know and I will do my best to do so. :-)

**Dark Cat Food Lover**\- I like this version a lot better, too. :-)

Change log: As you can see, I combined chapters two and three and cut out entirely her telling the movie plot to Jazz. And the cover story from chapter five comes into play much sooner. And description, yay! Hopefully this gives a better idea of what "Jack" looks like than I ever gave before.

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**Chapter Two: The Beginning of Lies**

She must have slept for a long time, because she woke up to a starry sky and a giant water bottle being tucked in her arms. It was one of the bottles that was almost as long as her forearm, and she blinked the bleariness out of her eyes as she fumbled with the cap. There were three more at her feet, all the same size, and a medium sized container of diced fruit sat on the dash with a plastic fork.

"Thought you could use some water, and the doc said not to start you into heavier food right away if you've been starved," a male voice explained, and she turned her head to see Jack, the man with the bluest eyes she had ever seen. Her mind kept going back to that point, and she decided that it was because they were just that blue, particularly in contrast with his skin, a rich dark umber. She had never seen blue eyes from anyone except those of European descent, so perhaps he was wearing colored contacts, or something.

"Thanks," Kate mumbled, swiping a hand across her own grey-blue eyes in an attempt to clear them and her fuzzy brain. "Where are we?"

"Iowa, near Des Moines. I'm going to stop at a hotel soon so you can have a bed and get cleaned up, all right? I'll make sure there's a store nearby so I can get you some clothes, too."

Kate stretched and yawned, then nodded. The cap came open more easily when she tried again, and she raised the bottle to her lips and nearly took too big a gulp.

_Slowly, dear,_ Vor reminded her. _Careful sips, drink some and wait a couple minutes before drinking some more. You have to give it time to be absorbed, remember. Good, now rest a bit._

Her hands were shaking again as she put the bottle in a cup holder and took the fruit into her lap. The man in the other seat eyed her with concern, but said nothing and just started driving again. Kate liked that about him, that he didn't push her to answer questions. It was new, and almost comforting, because she could tell he cared what had happened but also cared that she didn't want to answer questions yet. He was probably waiting for her to volunteer information.

Kate leaned back in her seat with a tired sigh, watching absently as long fingers gripped the steering wheel and tapped to an unheard rhythm. He wasn't too tall, maybe about average height, and some distant part of her mind whispered that he had the air of a soldier. He was certainly built like one, with sturdy arms that were muscular but not bulky, and his closely cropped hair reflected this. His features were lean, nose sharp and more on the narrow side, but his jaw was square and starting to grow some scruff. He had narrow, mirrored-lens shield sunglasses shoved up to the top of his head, and she vaguely remembered him wearing them earlier, but her previous exhaustion left the details fuzzy. "So how'd you get from New York to Nevada?" she asked, weary of silence after two days of just herself and Vor. There was another person here, one not trying to hurt her, and by golly she was going to take advantage of that.

Jack settled further into his own seat and his lips twitched in what was probably fond remembrance, a distant look in his eyes even as he stared out at the road. "Well, I wandered for a bit, and eventually did settle in New Orleans. Mind you, this was before Katrina. It was nice there, made good friends. When the hurricane hit… Our neighborhood got scattered in the evacuation. I still haven't found my best friend. But some of us did run into each other again, and we decided that instead of reclaiming our neighborhood we'd make a new community. Some of us are military, so the old Colonel was able to get a deal on an abandoned military warehouse out in Nevada. We live in the compound beneath it, which some engineers managed to reinforce so it's quite sturdy. The scale is kind of big, like having a street underground for hallways, but it works. Still working on making it less barren, but I think you'll find it cool enough."

Kate smiled as she listened, and fumbled with the cap again as she focused on the story being told to her. "Must be nice, belonging to something like that. How many of you are there?"

The man went almost cross-eyed. "Uhh… Let's see, there's Pete, Ian, Ray, Ben, me…and Will's here, too. He just arrived, crazy scientist type, want to watch out for that. Pete and Ian have wives, but Elly and Cor got separated from us, and we still haven't found them. Ben, Pete's nephew, doesn't actually live on base with us—sorry, we haven't really given the place a name, yet—but lives with some friends he made in California, a few hours away. Ray's our doctor, and something of a mechanical genius, himself, as a hobby. Ian's the old Colonel I mentioned, and Pete—I think he's in upper management at one of the local trucking companies, but he was in the military for a while, too, same as Ray who's an old army medic."

"And you?"

"Me? Army, DJ in my free time. I'm on leave and on vacation, though, 'cause I took some days to do some searching."

"Oh." Kate sipped slowly at her water. She wasn't too surprised to find she had been right about him being military, and his explanation made sense. "Find anyone?"

"Not yet." He sighed, then fiddled with the radio which was turning to static. "But I will. Eventually."

"Of course you will. Never leave a man behind, right?" The girl smiled at him, but knew it was more for encouragement's sake than actually feeling it. She shifted forward to check her bag in a sense of possessive ownership, and her finger jabbed against a sharp corner as she stuck her hand inside. "Ouch," she muttered, momentarily sticking her finger in her mouth as she pulled the shard from her bag. She scowled down at it, flipping it over in her hands. "Dratted piece of metal."

The car seemed to vibrate around her for a moment, but when she looked up it all went back to normal, and she shrugged it off as her imagination. Jack poked a finger at the shard, so she glanced at him instead. "What's that thing?" he asked, eyes curious and interested.

"I don't know," she answered. "I picked it up just before I heard you coming. It shocked me when I first touched it, but what's weird is that it was under the water and I didn't feel anything from it before, and nothing through the water. And the way it _looks_…"

"How does it look?"

"Like a piece of the All Spark from that movie, _Transformers_, that came out last year." She held it up to the light filtering through the windows from the full moon, peering intently at it, so she missed the way Jack stared at her.

"What's _Transformers_?"

She glanced back over at him, but he was looking to the road again. "It's a movie," she repeated, "about giant living robots from a planet called Cybertron. There are two factions, Autobots and Decepticons, and they were fighting over the source of life on their planet, the All Spark, which the leader of the Bots had sent into space. It landed on Earth, and the entire movie is about how both parties and the humans find it and fight over it." A sudden thought, and she dug into her bag. "I've got the movie here, actually. I had…" Her eyes glazed over. "I was going to a friend's house to watch it, I think, when I was grabbed. I don't remember too well. But I've still got it, looks like, so we can watch it sometime if you want."

Jack cleared his throat, and his hands shifted their grips on the steering wheel. His knuckles were a little pale, she noted, but the tension eased quickly. "I think that's a good idea."

"Great." Kate's eyes cleared and she grinned at him. "My favorite Autobot is Bumblebee, followed by Jazz—probably from the cartoons I used to watch, too, and the fan fictions. You don't get much about him in the movie before…" The grin died, and she winced. "Yeah, anyway, we close to a hotel? I really need to pee."

The man driving choked on air and a startled laugh. "Yeah, kid, almost there. Go ahead and get more sleep if you can, or eat some of that fruit. I'll wake you when we get there."

"'Kay." Kate put the fruit by her feet, then pushed the movie back into her bag and hugged the entire thing to her chest as she closed her eyes. She was still tired, come to think of it, though she hadn't paid attention to the feeling when she realized there was water. With a yawn, she stretched her toes. "Can we get WiFi?"

"I'll see what I can do." A gentle, calloused hand ruffled her tangled hair a little, and she smiled as the kind touch relaxed her further.

_Goodnight, Vor,_ she whispered to herself, and the Presence wrapped her warmth around her and rocked her to sleep.

**. . . . . .**

"Jack" stared over at the girl he had picked up from where he sat on the other bed in the dark hotel room. She was an impossibility… How did she exist, and how did that movie exist? She thought they weren't real, that they were just computer generated characters from a fictional world… And she found the All Spark shard he had set out to find, but it had done something to her, and he didn't know what, and now as far as he could tell it was completely drained. It shocked her, she said, and only her, and only when she directly touched it.

In a very human gesture, he caused his advanced holoform to draw its hands over its face, feeling the scratch of the growing beard he had included after research into human facial hair growth patterns, and gave a heavy sigh before he stood up and made for the door. He was getting an ache in his processor, he was sure of it. He might as well go shopping like he promised, the girl wasn't going anywhere.

Jazz unloaded the water bottles from the passenger wheel well and brought them inside to the bathroom counter where Kate would find them. They would be crushed if he suddenly needed to transform and the bits of plastic and all that water would be uncomfortable if it got in his systems. Thinking of all this reminded him that he had yet to call base and tell them what was happening, and that he was even on the way back in the first place. So when he was back on the road to go to the nearest department store, he reached out to several states away with an almost desperate need to communicate.

_"Jazz to Optimus Prime, come in." _

Nothing. Worried and stressed, he tried again.

_"Jazz to Optimus, do you read me?" _Again, no response, and he send a short, sharp word in hopes it would convey his urgency if the Prime was in a meeting or recharging._ "Optimus!"_

Optimus answered his increasingly stressed transmission with a confused data burst. _"Jazz? What is it, what's wrong?"_

_"Everything. Nothing. I don't know, there's never been anything like…_this_, before." _He sent records of his conversations with Kate to his leader, and felt when the unsettled Bot had finished it all. _"I mean, the situation was bad enough when she was _just_ a kidnapped kid, Prime. Now what do we do?"_

_"Bring her back here as you planned," _Prime ordered, his tone revealing just how weary he was. Their war had been going on for eons, and every new innocent dragged into the conflict clearly weighed heavily on him. _"It is fortunate the shard is located, though unfortunate that we do not know what it has done to her. There are no records of that movie, either, and I cannot find any records on this 'Kate' either."_

_"How…?"_

_"I don't know. And information on the girl is incomplete, so we need more before we can narrow the search. But for now we will stick with the cover story you have begun, and expand it as necessary until the time is right. I will leave it to your discretion to impart the truth to your new charge."_

Jazz revved his engine in discomfort. _"All right, sir. I'll warn you when I think we're all ready for that. We should probably assess her mental state beforehand, though."_

_"Vor," _Optimus guessed. _"Yes, and we should have Ratchet look her over as well. I will tell him to expect you when you get in."_

_"Yes, sir." _Jazz slowed down as he approached a Wal-Mart, figuring it would do for his purposes until someone could take Kate shopping for clothes she actually liked. He was bound to find some decent alternatives for her torn, bloodstained, and muddied clothes, however, and that was what counted. _"ETA is sometime tomorrow afternoon or evening, depending on what time the kid gets up in the morning."_

_"Tell us when you're close. We'll be waiting."_

Jazz signed off and stared up at the glowing white letters with his holoform with a sense of foreboding. This was going to be interesting.

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_**Updated 11-24-14**_


	3. Chapter 03: Ghost in Name and Memories

Thank you so much for your comments and your patience, **Dark Cat Food Lover**, **BookLovingPersonR.B.L**, **Khalthar**, **Alice Gone Mad**, and **Anodythe**. :-) It is very much appreciated, and I am glad that you find this so much better than the original! I cringe when I read my writing in that, sometimes. :-P

In other news, the sequel, _Keres_, is up! Updates will be slow, but a start has been made. :-)

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**Chapter Three: Ghost in Name and Memory**

Kate felt herself coming awake after what was probably not that long an amount of time. The room was dark when she cracked her eyes open, the other bed empty, and she recalled fleetingly that her driver had promised to go to the store for her. Clean clothes, those sounded great. And a shower, the thought was almost heavenly, but she detested the idea of getting back into these rags so she was going to wait.

She vaguely remembered making good use of the toilet before crashing on top of the bed Jack had been kind enough to strip the cheap quilt from. Her shoes were placed neatly next to the trash can, instead of scattered to the door and the window. A keycard sat on top of the TV table, but she dismissed it as irrelevant for the moment and instead looked for her backpack. It was by the bed, in easy reach, and a quick tug pulled it up onto the mattress with her after she turned on a light. Everything was in here that she last remembered: her laptop, the power cord, her iPod and earbuds, her movie, and that strange piece of metal. Probing fingers found everything intact—what was a drill without the bit, after all?—and she eased her weary body up so she could plug in her cord.

The silver MacBook booted up easily when she pressed the power button in the corner, showing no sign of wear from when she last touched it. It didn't seem her kidnappers had messed with it at all, which was a strange blessing. Was it there just in case she couldn't use a Windows setup, then? No matter, she had it back and a weird fog was urging her to tap on keys which opened…a chat window?

An empty box winked at her, bearing just a single line of text.** Phantom is online.** In the entry field below, a name was listed, reading **Ghost:**, followed by a blinking text bar. It was familiar, calling to her blood and her hands, and she sucked in a breath. _What is this?_

Vor stirred in the recesses of her mind. _Part of who you are,_ she answered. _You've forgotten, but this is part of what you do._

_I know this "Phantom" guy? Who is he? Who am _I?

_Think. Remember. Who were you visiting when you packed that bag?_

Kate felt her expression twist in her confusion. It was strange, and unsettling, that Vor remembered what she could not, and that she was not telling her. Forget sharing senses, this went to an entirely new level. She had grown comfortable with the Voice in her head—but the idea of Vor's being able to access memories she could not was making her question the low level of insanity she had previously assumed. But the question was valid, and the answer came to her like a faint whisper. _One who is like a brother,_ she knew.

_Then maybe this is him?_ Vor didn't sound completely sure, but Kate figured it was good enough and brought her fingers to the keys. She could interrogate her Voice later.

**Ghost: I know you, don't I?**

She typed this slowly, and hesitated before hitting the enter key. There was a short pause, and then one response right after another.

**Phantom: Kit? **

**Phantom: Is that you, kid?**

Kate bit her lower lip in concentration. Kit sounded familiar, achingly so. It brought to mind warm smiles, a brother's protective embrace.

**Ghost: Don't know, memory's hazy**

**Ghost: just know first name**

**Ghost: You're connected to me somehow?**

**Phantom: Yes**

**Phantom: Names aren't safe**

**Phantom: What is the inheritance all parents give their children?**

What the heck? _Vor, what?_

_Genes, dear,_ Vor answered for her, sounding fondly exasperated. _His name is Gene._

Gene… Gene Nicholson, her brother's best friend; her teacher. But teacher of what? Computers, she never left her computer anywhere. Pennies dropped in a palm, rolling eyes of the master. Obligation paid in full.

**Ghost: You'd teach me for a tuppence, you used to say**

**Ghost: It's still fuzzy, but I remember you.**

She hesitated to type the dreaded name, but knew it must be done. If they were after her, wouldn't they be after Gene, her mentor?

**Ghost: Watch out for Keres. He smiles nice but his bite is deadly.**

There was a long pause as the other processed that. Then…

**Phantom: He's the one who has you?**

**Ghost: Used to**

**Ghost: I escaped, am with someone who can help. **

**Ghost: But I can't come home yet, not for a while. You understand?**

**Phantom: A little, but I'll keep it quiet.**

There was a pause, but before she could think to type a reply he sent another message.

**Phantom: Your aunt won't be happy.**

Kate swallowed hard. She had an aunt? The face and name escaped her, and she squeezed her eyes shut for a moment.

**Ghost: Something happened to my head. I can't remember her.**

**Ghost: You can't tell her, please.**

**Phantom: Can I tell her anything?**

There was a lull as Kate thought that over, but he remained online and she knew he was going to wait for her answer however long it took. She was trying to keep her answers short to save on time and to not give away too much, but it was hard not to use her normal speech patterns and any gain in speed was balanced by the delay in her thought processes. Eventually she settled on what to tell this familiar stranger, though, and her fingers grew more comfortable with the keyboard.

**Ghost: You can tell her I'm safe for now. **

**Ghost: Don't try to find me. When it's time, when I can remember, I'll come home.**

**Phantom: Fine**

**Phantom: Stay safe. I'll work on this end.**

She smiled in relief at his acceptance. She didn't think it would change much if he didn't agree to cooperate, but just knowing he wouldn't try to interfere with whatever vague plans she had was kind of comforting. Her next messages took a little longer to hammer out as her eyes crossed in the middle of a wide yawn, but he was still online and watching for her, and she knew he would see them.

**Ghost: Careful where you dig. **

**Ghost: I've got to go, in rough shape still. There's a doctor where I'm going, he'll fix me up. Right now I need sleep, and food.**

_You need more than sleep,_ Vor told her, almost chidingly, and Kate didn't argue with that. She couldn't.

Phantom typed back less than a minute later, and her heart warmed at his apparent concern. **Keep in touch?**

**Definitely**, she answered, and held down the power button until the screen blacked out.

**. . . . . .**

In an abandoned factory hidden away in a thick Michigan forest, a young man stared diligently at streaming lines of code. He had one eye, and an angry white scar stretched across his skin beneath the patch strapped around his skull. His good eye was already aching after spending too long at this one task, and as his vision began to blur a notice popped up on the monitor. It blinked red, but was otherwise small and discreet, and clicking on it brought up a map of North America. A red circle focused on an almost rectangular shaped state in the US, and with each blink it made it grew a little smaller, and the map focused in.

The man blinked at the display, forgetting for a moment what he was seeing. As soon as he remembered, however, the circle blinked out and a box popped up. "Tracking lost," it read, and he scrambled to pull up the recorded data. Iowa, the kid was in Iowa. After her escape a few days ago, the boss had figured she'd head for home in southern Ohio, but she hadn't popped up there and some of the others had speculated about her dying in the woods. The tracker planted in her laptop only worked when the MacBook was powered on, but Keres had been adamant that she would use the computer after she had taken it with her, and no one dared question their employer. So it had to be her; she had to be alive, and she was in Iowa.

He reached out his right hand as his left fiddled with the keyboard and snatched up the cordless phone docked there. Holding down the "2" button activated the speed dial's programmed number, and it wasn't long before the other end picked up.

_"What is it?" _Keres demanded. He sounded distracted, and the mental picture the young man always had of his boss as a cobra was suddenly even more fitting as the words hissed between teeth that were most likely clenched tight.

"It's Gainesman," he identified himself, unruffled by other's annoyance. He would be pleased enough in short order, anyway. "You were right about the tracker, she just popped up in Iowa, near Des Moines. Looks like she's at a motel, or just using its WiFi, so probably still on the move."

_"And she'd be gone by the time any of ours got there," _Keres agreed in a much calmer tone. _"We'll start getting a team assembled, anyway. Call Licks to get the plane prepped, I'll deal with the rest. And make sure someone is watching for that signal at all times. I don't think I need to tell you what would happen if one of you missed it."_

At this, Gainesman did shiver. Keres's anger burned cold when it was roused, and that was scarier than the red-hot tempers he had seen from other men. No, he didn't need to tell him.

"I'll make sure the others know," he confirmed, and waited for Keres to hang up before he looked up Licks's number. Then he was going to go to bed, because there was no way he would be alert enough to catch that notice if it popped up again and he was up much longer. Culkus could handle it for the next few hours just fine.

**. . . . . .**

Weary eyes blinked open to slowly focus on a grinning face. "Wha'time," she mumbled, her muffled voice turning the question into one word. Jack looked to his left to confirm the answer, which was nine o' clock, and with a quiet grumble she rolled onto her side. "You let me sleep in," she accused.

"Of course I did," Jack answered, giving her what was almost a disbelieving look. His nose crinkled in the expression, then smoothed out as he smiled. "You're sleeping in an actual bed, and you've been exhausted. Why wake you up earlier when you're going to be in a car all day again?"

"The seats are pretty comfortable, too," she pointed out, but made no other arguments. Jack was right, the opportunity to sleep on a mattress, even a crappy hotel mattress, was not one to pass up, and she was grateful for it. She made sure to tell him thank you, and repeated this sentiment much more enthusiastically when she saw the bags on the floor.

Jack didn't laugh, but he did smile. She appreciated that. "I managed to find you a jacket, too, and grabbed you a hoodie for if it got colder. Don't figure you'll need a coat yet. I kind of guessed your sizes, so I hope everything fits okay."

"It should," she assured him, checking the tags on various items in the bags. Yup, three colors of Hanes shirts in small, two size six jeans in bootcut, and he had gone the safe route and grabbed her a pack of sports bras that would fit her fine. Even the socks and underwear were more or less the right size, and the pair of running shoes. It was almost scarily accurate, but she knew some people just had that knack and she would definitely have been able to tell if he was checking her tags while wearing them.

She scooped up a set of everything and the toiletries he had bought her and nearly skipped into the bathroom. Ideally she would have wanted to wash the underwear before wearing it, but it was a sealed package and she figured it couldn't hurt this time to wear it straight from the package. "When do you think we'll get there?" she asked over her shoulder as she arranged things to be easy to grab.

"Late, late tonight," Jack guessed. "Normally the drive is twenty hours or so from here, but we're looking at flat highways and fellow drivers who regularly ignore the speed limit."

"Fellow, including you?" she asked him with a small smile as she looked out of the bathroom at him. At his shrug, she shook her head and closed the door. Honestly, she wouldn't be surprised if he went at least twenty over the whole way there, like Keagan used to.

_Keagan?_

_Your brother_, Vor reminded her. How had she forgotten her brother? Same way she had forgotten Gene, she figured—however that was.

To escape the downwards spiral of her thoughts, she moved quickly to duck her head under a hot stream of water after stripping of her filthy clothes, all of which went into the trash can. It felt good to throw them away, and even better to feel the pounding heat wash away oil and grime and blood. There was a little bottle of shampoo in the shower, and she dumped the entire thing on her head to scrub into her scalp. Lather and dirt rinsed away, she grabbed the toiletries Jack had bought her and squeezed another dollop of shampoo into her hand, almost laughing in giddiness at being able to smell of flowers after so long. Lavender, the bottle read, and it was heavenly. While probably not the best for her hair, which had a serious case of split ends and snarls and needed a good cut, she repeated the process twice more before dousing it in conditioner, letting that sit there for a couple minutes for good measure. She was in no rush, and she hummed one of the songs she had heard on Jack's radio as she waited.

Scrubbing her body down took a good five minutes on its own, and by the end her arms and feet especially were rather red but feeling gloriously clean. Jazz had even thought to grab an exfoliating face wash, and she scrubbed that hard into her skin to wash dead skin and grease and dirt down the drain. At the end of it all, she just stood there, head against the wall, soaking in the heat and trying not to cry. Any tears that did escape, the shower hid them and made it as if they never were.

Jazz looked up as she emerged from the bathroom, clothed and hair wrapped up in a towel. "Y' forgot this," he said, offering a comb that he had dug from one of the bags. "Here, want help with your hair? I don't imagine it'd be any fun to deal with."

"I, ah—" The thought was strange, but she had always enjoyed visits to the salon. Eyeing him carefully, Kate passed the frizz spray he had bought her and sat on the edge of bed where he was perched, one leg tucked up so she could turn her back to him. He didn't do anything at first, didn't even move, but soon a gentle tugging started and she closed her eyes in a strange sense of relief.

_Three months, two weeks, five days._

_And how long is that?_ Vor asked, caught with the rare instance of a thought coming without any context.

_I don't know._ Kate frowned, but as relaxed as she was the expression didn't last long. _I think that's how long it's been since I was last really clean._

_I think you're right,_ her Voice agreed, and she didn't sound happy. The emotional weight lessened, and Vor gave the sense of smiling gently at her. _It feels good, doesn't it?_

By now, Jack had worked his careful way halfway up her mane, silently and patiently easing his way through stubborn knots. "Your hair is pretty," he remarked. Not would be, _is_. And he was sincere about it, the sentiment far more endearing than she had realized it could be. At the moment, she didn't think there was anything pretty about herself, but for some reason he did. But he didn't touch her, expect for her hair, and she felt herself truly relaxing before she even realized she had even been tense to begin with. Strangers in general were a bad idea to simply trust, but something about this man shouted safety. In that way, he reminded her of how the name Keagan felt to her.

The comb scratched against her scalp, and she realized she had almost fallen asleep again. "Sorry," she murmured, and Jack laughed warmly.

"Don't worry about it. I'm not surprised you're still wiped out. Here, eat this." He passed a little box of diced fruit into her hands, along with a fork, and a paper bag. Inside that were some croissants. "I stopped and got you some breakfast while I was shopping last night. When we get in the car, you can sleep as much as you want, and I'll wake you up for lunch and dinner. Sound good?"

Already munching away, Kate nodded happily.

* * *

**[posted 3/29/15]**

_Writer's Comments: As you can see, I have introduced certain elements much sooner in this version, now that I know where this is going. I admit that I was adding stuff on the fly last time, trying to put things together to make a plot and advance it. So we get Gene much sooner, and the tracker, and-of course-Keres himself. Jazz's shopping trip has been cut out because, as amusing as the thought was when I was sixteen, it is an unnecessary addition and doesn't really work to advance the plot. _


End file.
